MONETIZING THE INTERNET

Monetizing the web continues to be the quest of publishers who need to attract new customers and offset the down-trend in revenue within the more traditional sectors of their businesses.  Publishing is not a one-size-fits-all medium. What works well in certain markets often fails in others. Creating an integrated strategy that helps our customers realize their goals in the markets that we serve is more complicated than it has ever been in the history of our industry. 
More and more, advertisers are demanding that we deliver a wide range of advertising products and services with tangible ROI attached.   We must step up our efforts to search out ways to meet these demands if we are to continue to grow.  "Performance marketing has always been about accountability".  The Internet Advertising Bureau

We are hearing a lot today about social networking. This may be an area where publishers can do what we do best to serve our customers.  We can implement new ways to bring audiences together and generate traffic through the exchange of ideas and opinions. This involves moving out of our smaller, tighter networks, and looking beyond our relationship "cliques" to form other bonds and discover what Mark Granovetter has called "the strength of weak ties" – those relationships that can provide us with the new ideas that will serve our markets with the ROI they demand.

Whether you are employing e-mail blasts and attempt to balance the risk between effective frequency and e-mail fatigue, or allowing customers to sponsor everything from a key word to a page, to a section, or offering the use of your database, you probably are not satisfied with your results. 
Leveraging your database to it's fullest on the Internet is critical.  Your database isan extremely valuable resource for publishers and their customers.  Forrester Research's web site showed that many companies don't know how valuable their data base is.  "We've asked a lot of marketers ... and we found that ... they do not necessarily have a value on the database."  We, as publishers, know the value of our databases and their ability to generate revenue.  Customers are willing to pay substantial amounts of money for our audiences. Still, is there more that can be achieved?
Some publishers create an "ask the experts" section.  Here consultants in your field pay you to be perceived as experts by posing and answering relevant market questions.   This can be a significant revenue stream.
Some publishers collect demographic information on their web site and use it to get advertisers to run larger schedules.  This capitalizes on a trend in marketing today often called Rich Data.  Forrester Researchsays "Many marketers are trying to adopt a more customer centric focus.  Doing so requires the use of numerous technologies that facilitate deep customer understanding and better targeting of offers."    What knowledge can you acquire from your readers to help your marketer better target their products and services? 

Another important factor in Internet sales is to put together an integrated package that serves the customers needs and goals in an effective manner.  This takes the pressure off rates and enables the advertisers to make a substantially higher investment with you.  Jupiter Research wrote an article titled, "Removing the Silos to Improve Coordination",  which discusses this essential element in today's media buying.   The time that it takes you to carefully research the integrated package and put together a coordinated proposal will come back to you in a long-term satisfied customer and significant profit.  It's still about knowing customer's needs - some things never change.

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